Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa on Tuesday sacked Mr. Satoshi Tanaka, head of the Okinawa Defense Bureau, for making a contemptuous remark about women and the Okinawan people. The remark concerned the government plan to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from densely populated Ginowan City on Okinawa Island to the coastal Henoko area, further north on the island.
In a Naha pub Monday night, Mr. Tanaka was asked by reporters why Mr. Ichikawa does not specify the timing for submitting to Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima an environmental impact assessment report on the relocation — a legally required procedure for a large project like the Henoko plan, which requires land reclamation from the sea. Mr. Tanaka replied, "Do you say (to a woman), 'I am going to rape you,' before you rape her?"
Although this was an off-the-record statement, the Ryukyu Shimpo newspaper reported it Tuesday morning in the belief that the statement markedly lacked respect to human rights and that Okinawans and readers should know what Mr. Tanaka's thinking was on such a controversial matter.